A biased look at psychology in the world

December 06, 2012

Looking at Subjective Well-Being

How satisfied are you with your life? Defined as a person's evaluation of life quality, both in terms of cognitions and feelings, subjective well-being (SWB) represents people's beliefs and feelings
about whether they are leading a desirable and rewarding life. In a recent article in American Psychologist, American Psychological Association award-winner Ed Deiner looked at recent findings on SWB and
describes the important questions for future research that these raise.
Worldwide predictors of SWB such as social support and fulfillment of
basic needs have been uncovered, and there are large differences in SWB
between societies. A number of culture-specific predictors of SWB have
also been found. Research on social comparison suggests that a world
standard for a desirable income has developed. New findings on
adaptation indicate that habituation to conditions is not always
complete and that circumstances in some cases can have a large and
lasting effect on SWB. An important finding is that high SWB benefits
health, longevity, citizenship, and social relationships. Because of the
benefits of SWB as well as the strong effects societal conditions can
have on it, I proposed national accounts of SWB, which are now being
seriously considered by nations. Finally, the author reviews advances in
methodology that are needed to move beyond conclusions based on simple
cross-sectional correlations based on global self-report scales. Each of
the findings raises new and important questions for future research